


Soldiers Of Light: A Different Ending | Part 1

by Endless_Halcyon



Series: A Different Ending [1]
Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Ending - Ruin and Rising, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Ruin and Rising Spoilers, F/M, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, Mal stays dead, Nikolina endgame but not this part, No Darkling redemption arc, What I wish the ending of Ruin and Rising was, because I'm still very bitter, but rest assured that I'm planning Nikolina fluff, so I'm not tagging it as Nikolina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endless_Halcyon/pseuds/Endless_Halcyon
Summary: Imagine if things had gone differently that day on the Shadow Fold.What if Alina hadn't lost her powers when she slew Mal?What if merzost and madness ruled the final battle?What if the ending was completely different?Or, my dream last ~50 pages of Ruin and Rising.
Relationships: Mal Oretsev/Alina Starkov, The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov
Series: A Different Ending [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834522
Kudos: 17





	Soldiers Of Light: A Different Ending | Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm Endless_Halcyon and this is my first Grishaverse fanfiction!  
> I hope you enjoy!

Alina looked at the corpse of her childhood friend. The blood staining her hands and the knife held in them told everything. His body was limp and color was already fading from his skin. There was no pulse in his neck and none of his breathing to be heard. She had killed Mal. She had killed Mal. She had killed Mal. 

_Mal was gone._

"Please, bring him back, bring him back," she sobbed to Tolya and Tamar standing by her. Mal was the boy who could make rabbits from rocks. Maybe he could find his way back to her now. He had to. That was what he always did.

Tamar readied her hands, but not to heal Mal. No, instead she used her Heartrender power to snap off a portion of the tracker’s rib. Tamar thrust it into Alina's hands, which could barely grasp the slippery surface. Instantly, a surge of something more than Grisha ability came up inside the Summoner. Alina didn't hesitate to let it go with a scream. A scream of rage, grief, and vengeance for the man who had made her kill Mal. Her amplifiers themselves glowed with the lives that once belonged to them. Their power was hers. She was tied to the making at the heart of the world more than anybody else and had paid the price. Now she could make the Darkling pay, too. If there was anything she knew in that moment, it was that they, at last, were equal.

_There are two thrones on that dais._

_I sought Morozova's amplifier for you, that we might rule as equals._

_You were meant to be my balance. You are the only person who might rule with me, who might keep my power in check._

"NO."

Blinding light ripped through the fabric of the Fold instantly, illuminating everything the eye could see. Then, blue sky shone over the barren sands of what once was a swath of impenetrable darkness. The volcra screeched in the distance, their wings frantically beating in their confusion. Fighting on the skiffs stopped as friend and foe alike looked up. Awe dawned upon their faces. The place that had not seen sunlight for centuries now was bright.

The scene was interrupted by swirls of darkness with the _nichevo'ya_ trailing behind, carrying the figure donned in a black _kefta_.

“What--” The Darkling began before pausing. His gaze pierced Alina’s soul, just as it had at the Winter Fete so long ago. Then, his eyes landed on the fragment of bone in her hand and the corpse at her feet. “Oretsev,” he said in amazement as realization struck him.

Alina got to her feet, still shaking from the death of Mal and the power she’d just unleashed in full capacity,

“Yes,” she said, her voice clearer than the glass skiffs. “We are the same,” knowing which question the black-robed man would ask.

“There’s still time, you know,” the Darkling dropped his voice. “You could rule with me, side by side. Call your attack off. Save your dying friends. Then have power you could’ve scarcely imagined as a Keramzin orphan will be yours.”

The Sun Saint shook her head, confident in her next words. “I was tempted. Once. But you will always be a monster. You would control me. You wouldn’t bat an eye when I used my light to forge a path and kill the ones who happened to be in the way. I choose a different road to follow.”

With those words, she delved into the power she’d stolen from him and forged it into her own. She could envision the _nichevo’ya_ marring Genya forever and the monster Nikolai had become. A wavering gleam of light formed not far from where she was standing. Alina concentrated harder.

 _Abomination_ , Baghra’s words echoed through her mind. _Do what my son could not and_ give this up.

 _I’m sorry, Baghra. It’s the only chance I have,_ Alina responded in her mind just as she had in the mountains.

_Foolish girl._

Alina remembered the ribbons of shadow emerging from Baghra’s hands, the byproduct of what the woman’s father had done. She gazed into the Darkling’s features and the weariness that wasn’t always there. She felt the weight on her feet from the lifeless thing on the ground. She remembered the thing that had darted into Nikolai and the wings sprouting from his back. The onyx fangs that he had snarled at her with. The claws that took the place of his hands. His hazel eyes turning black.

The feeble light began to enlarge, getting brighter and brighter until it formed a human figure. Wings unfolded from its back, its face turning more and more real.

The Saint gasped. The features looking back at her were Alexei’s. His figure faded for a split second as Alina lost and regained her focus. This was not him. It was not real. It did not matter.

Another light came up beside the shining Alexei. It took a smaller form, hardly a child’s. Its face formed and Alina’s eyes widened.

It was the baby she had seen whose mother had tried to flee the oncoming Shadow Fold.

Alina pushed the memory away. It was only a distraction from a greater goal. Nothing important.

More lights came exponentially, each one taking the form of a winged angel-like being. Young and old were all solidifying as Alina held on to the dangerous force that was tugging at her heart with each new soldier of light. It was almost easy. Fun, even. A laugh she didn’t recognize escaped her lips. What had Baghra been so worried about? What had _she_ been worried about? She could push the limits as far as she liked without feeling so much as a slight pain with the amplifiers united.

Before she knew it, an army of figures of light surrounded not only her, but the sand skiffs all around the battle scene. Her army made of lives lost to the abomination the Darkling had forged in his own greed.

Looking to the shocked, frozen man, she said quietly, “Fight me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cliffhanger ending. I'm not sorry.  
> If I ever get my lazy self to update this, be assured that it'll be as good as I can make it.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated!


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